Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Gul Dukat
5. One Of Dukat's Key Episodes Was Almost Completely Different
Of all the Dukat centred episodes of DS9, few are as pivotal as season 6's Waltz.
Finding himself as Sisko's prisoner on the way to his war crimes trial in the wake of Operation Return, their ship is shot down by a Cardassian battle cruiser, and the two trade barbs and moral treatise as they wait, stranded and unsure which side of the war will come to their rescue.
Throughout the episode Dukat is plagued by visions of Damar, Kira, and Weyoun, who torment him for his failings and goad him to submit to his most brutal instincts. Although the episode is a brilliant vehicle for Dukat's theatrical Cardassian grandstanding, he was originally intended to be the sole focus of this outing, with the entire episode taking place in his head.
Left catatonic after his trauma, the episode would have shown Dukat's fantasy life, reinstated as Prefect of Bajor with Kira as his wife, but the writers found only the sections with Sisko compelling, so decided to jettison everything else in favour of this dichotomy.
Whilst the finished product set the wheels in motion for the final episode, we can't help but wonder how differently this arc would have played out had the two Emissaries not had this time together.